MikeG
Senior Member.
For a very long time, History Channel has blurred the line between information and entertainment. Two recent documentaries have exposed the network’s over-the-top sensationalism in ways that are hilarious and extremely frustrating for serious professionals in the discipline.

The first example comes from the History Channel show Hunting Hitler. On the November 2016 premiere of season two, the “investigators” drop a bombshell: a picture of Hitler found in Argentina dating back to the sixties.
The episode is featured here. The actual picture first appears between 1:26 and 2:08.

If you look closely at the picture, the person’s identity is pretty obvious. It is Moses Harry Horwitz, otherwise known by his stage name of Moe Howard. That’s right, Hunting Hitler has discovered a picture of Moe Howard of the Three Stooges taken in the seventies. I have been a Three Stooges fan for most of my life. It’s him in a picture that dates to the early seventies.
Funny and really embarrassing.
More recently, History Channel produced a documentary, Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence. According to the History Channel website:

http://www.history.com/specials/amelia-earhart-the-lost-evidence
This story took a few days to debunk. Vanity Fair, among many other publications, took History Channel to task:
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/history-channel-amelia-earhart-photo-debunked
The actual photo is here along with its original archival source.

http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403/99?itemId=info:ndljp/pid/1223403&contentNo=99&__lang=en
The outright sloppiness of all this is pretty appalling. Metabunk has covered History Channel in another thread, specifically its “infotainment” approach in shows like Pawn Stars and American Pickers.
https://www.metabunk.org/what-on-earth-science-channel-fail.t7514/#post-181046
What bothers me more is how History Channel handles “popular” history. The lay public deserves way better. And I worry that, at the heart of debates about “fake news” is a growing ignorance of both history and the methods present to understand it.
Good history, particularly documentaries, can be both informative and entertaining. Ken Burn’s work always comes to mind. I am really looking forward to his upcoming documentary on the Vietnam War.
Anyway, here’s to a few more years of fighting the good fight in my classes.
The first example comes from the History Channel show Hunting Hitler. On the November 2016 premiere of season two, the “investigators” drop a bombshell: a picture of Hitler found in Argentina dating back to the sixties.
The episode is featured here. The actual picture first appears between 1:26 and 2:08.
If you look closely at the picture, the person’s identity is pretty obvious. It is Moses Harry Horwitz, otherwise known by his stage name of Moe Howard. That’s right, Hunting Hitler has discovered a picture of Moe Howard of the Three Stooges taken in the seventies. I have been a Three Stooges fan for most of my life. It’s him in a picture that dates to the early seventies.
More recently, History Channel produced a documentary, Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence. According to the History Channel website:
This story took a few days to debunk. Vanity Fair, among many other publications, took History Channel to task:
The actual photo is here along with its original archival source.
http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403/99?itemId=info:ndljp/pid/1223403&contentNo=99&__lang=en
The outright sloppiness of all this is pretty appalling. Metabunk has covered History Channel in another thread, specifically its “infotainment” approach in shows like Pawn Stars and American Pickers.
https://www.metabunk.org/what-on-earth-science-channel-fail.t7514/#post-181046
What bothers me more is how History Channel handles “popular” history. The lay public deserves way better. And I worry that, at the heart of debates about “fake news” is a growing ignorance of both history and the methods present to understand it.
Good history, particularly documentaries, can be both informative and entertaining. Ken Burn’s work always comes to mind. I am really looking forward to his upcoming documentary on the Vietnam War.
Anyway, here’s to a few more years of fighting the good fight in my classes.
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